Category Archives: Other

Today, Josh and I (Kelley) are happy to introduce you to Radiant Photography’s latest senior, Isabella!

Actually, this isn’t Isabella’s first time on the Radiant blog. Back in 2011, Isabella’s older sister Francesca had her senior photos taken with Radiant, and Isabella and their younger sister came along and had a few photos taken together as well.

It’s obvious that family is important to all of these girls, so it was no surprise at all that Isabella wanted to bring her family in for a few photos before her senior session.

When Isabella started planning her session, she realized with her dad flying in from California at 2:30pm on the day of the shoot, and Francesca heading to the airport to go back to school at about 5:30 that night, they had a very small window in which they would all be together and able to take photos.

Luckily it was a window during which Josh and I were open and excited to help this family out!

After grabbing some family shots, Isabella’s dad and sisters headed out to drop Francesca off at the airport, and we officially started the senior photo portion of the evening. It was then that we began to learn more about this super sweet senior and her plans for the future.

Isabella will be graduating in mid-May, and not long after that, she’ll be shipping out to the Naval Academy. Yes, THE Naval Academy, all the way in Annapolis, Maryland.

Isabella has been lucky enough to attend Xavier College Preparatory school the last four years, which means she’s worn pretty much the same outfit five days a week for most of her teenage life. Of course, this meant we had to get a few shots of her in her uniform.

While she loves her school (she’s even enjoyed her daily uniform), she says she’s ready for a change and is looking forward to all of the new and fun challenges the Naval Academy will bring into her life.

One of the first big changes she’ll face, is cutting off most of her long beautiful locks. That’s right, before starting at the Naval Academy Isabella will have to get her hair cut to about the length of her chin. While her long hair is gorgeous, I am SURE that she’ll make short hair look absolutely fabulous.

How could she not? She would obviously be stunning with any hairstyle.

After spending the evening with Isabella, we can tell that no matter what hairstyle she goes off to college with, she’s going to be awesome and she will always have the support of her wonderful family back home! Congrats on your graduation Isabella, and have a blast with all of your upcoming adventures!

I know, it’s amazing how much she can transform isn’t it?! If I (Breanna) were the captain of her softball team, she would totally be my secret weapon!

I can just see it now, a sweet and innocent girl who looks like she could hardly hurt a fly gets off the bus, giving the opponents the idea that they can totally take this team….

…and then BAM! She comes out of the locker room a transformed girl and cleans up on the field!

So of course for her senior session we had to capture both sides of this talented girl’s personalities. But you can only look through so many photos of an intimidating face before it stops being fun because you immediately feel like you’re losing a game you’re not even playing, so for most of the session we focused on Margaret’s daily, non-game personality!

And Margaret chose just the location to help show off her relaxed and stylish self! The Venue at the Grove is one of those places that non-desert fans love because it just doesn’t quite look like Phoenix with the pecan grove, the white picket fence, and the green grass. In other words, there are no cactus in site!

Only awesome old trucks…

…a grungy shed…

…and on this particular day, a beautiful girl with stunning eyes and a shining smile who was excitedly posing for the senior pictures she’s been looking forward to for so long!

Margaret, thanks for choosing us as your senior photo photographers! We know that’s a huge deal and we loved working with you as we attempted to show off both sides of your personality!

I hope you love the photos as much as we do! Enjoy the rest of your senior year and we hope you rock it at graduation!

Don’t you just love it when amazing people from your past show back up again?! Me too. Which is why I was so excited when Kelly called to tell me she was getting married and wanted Scottie and myself (Breanna) to be her photographers!

This situation works out even better than you would think because they are getting married in California (where we live) but they wanted engagement photos in Arizona (where they live) and we happened to be taking a trip out to Arizona to shoot a wedding around the time they wanted engagement photos! And viola!

A real live Arizona desert engagement session as a precursor to their upcoming gorgeous California vineyard wedding! They get the best of both the worlds they love in their photos!

The interesting thing about this couple’s story is that while they currently have one foot in Arizona and one foot in California (sounds familiar!) during this wedding planning time, they plan on landing both feet in Africa shortly after their wedding!

Yes, I said Africa!! Kelly is a dietician and she has spent quite a bit of time working with an organization called Mercy Ships which focuses on bringing health care to Africa by docking a ship full of incredibly talented medically trained individuals, while African people come on and off it to receive the surgeries and medical care they need. 60 Minutes recently did a piece on Mercy Ships that I highly recommend watching!

So once all the glamor of their wedding is over, Kelly and Andrew will be trading in their tux and white dress for their flip flops and tank tops as they make their way through the ocean into their new life and new adventure together! So exciting! And it’s so perfect for them!

As Kelly mentioned, Andrew is the perfect guy for her, especially since it’s not easy to find someone willing to commit to spending their lives in Africa with you! And since I’ve known Kelly for awhile, I can tell that Andrew really does make her incredibly happy, I mean just look at her! Is that the face of a girl in love or what?!

I am very happy with Kelly and Andrew both myself because I am thrilled about the work they’ll be doing in Africa and it makes me so happy to see such wonderful people in love and committed to a cause greater than themselves! Of course, I’m also partial to married couples who work together!

We are so excited for your wedding, but we’re even more excited about the life you’re going to build together after it! See you in September!!!

…a 100 year old barn that was taken apart piece by piece and shipped from Wisconsin…

…. a few animals, adorable cottages, a lake…

….and of course on this day it had the perfect mix of Alysha’s vintage glam style!

I absolutely loved how Alysha and Daniel took what was already a really unique venue and then proceeded to make it their own by adding in an element of elegance, rather than just adding more vintage on top of vintage as most people would’ve done.

It added the perfect twist that worked on all levels. Well all levels except for the difficulties of walking over brick, wooden planks, and grass in glittering stilettos!

One of my favorite aspects of Daniel and Alysha’s wedding was how excited all of their friends were for them!

It was like adding joy to joy and coming out with an explosion of hugs, laughter, and tears.

(Above, the bridesmaids stealing a glance of the Reveal Moment. Below, the groomsmen spying on the reveal moment in their own special way by playing spies… or whatever it is that boys are doing when they point their fingers in the shape of guns like that).

Of course it wasn’t just their friends, family, and guests who were happy for them, Scottie and myself (Breanna) couldn’t have been more excited to see a couple so in love, so thrilled to be getting married, and complimenting one another so perfectly. It was beautiful and definitely a day to be remembered!

(Help Alysha and Daniel’s pictures be seen by as many people as possible by tagging yourselves in the photos on our Facebook page!).

Thank you Alysha and Daniel for allowing us the honor to be part of such a big day for the two of you, we couldn’t have been happier about it! Congratulations!

Remember when you were a little kid and old ladies would pinch your cheeks and rave about how much you’ve grown? Well I, Breanna, am officially an old lady now. You’d be one too if you’d spent time with this adorable itty witty face!

I mean, you see this little baby being carried around in a Baby Bjorn or whatever those things are called, and the next day they’re three! How can you NOT start freaking out about how big they’ve gotten when the first thing that crosses your mind is that this kid MUST have been eating magic beans to make her grow, because there’s no WAY you’ve aged as many years as this kid has in the past 3 years!

That’s how I’ve been with poor Jaime. I’ve tried to keep it to myself in order to spare her cheeks, but I still REALLY can’t believe that she’s gotten so big since I first met her as a tiny little baby at the Hawaii wedding we were photographing that her dad, Jon, was a groomsman in!

It didn’t take us long after getting re-acquainted with Jaime to realize that the years that have passed have been 3 very active and energetic years for this family!

The scrape on her chin says it all. She is just an adorable ball of fiery energy to say the least.

Luckily, she has some amazing parents who have no problem being as crazy and childlike as they need to be in order to really enjoy this precious and quickly moving time they have with their little girl at this very energetic stage in her life.

We first re-united with this incredible family to do photos of a very pregnant Doris. And Doris, I have to say, I was VERY impressed with how well you kept up with your little girl, even when you were carrying around an entire additional child in you! You didn’t miss a beat.

And neither did Jon, who apparently has been trained in the ancient art of holding the attention of a 3 year old, because he can hold on to that valuable resource with the best of them!

(Seriously, that’s one committed dad!)

Is there anything that can make a family as precious as this one, even more wonderful?!

Well I do know of one thing….

When baby boy Alton made his appearance into this world, this family went from great to greater.

I mean, look at this guy! He’s already using his awesome expressions to communicate his little personality to his family!

Doris, Jon, Jaime, and Alton…. we are so happy we got to spend so much time with you all over the past couple of months and we are so excited to see how you guys settle into your new roles with one another to create an even more amazing family than you’ve already been over the past years.

Congratulations on this major event, we are so happy we got to be a part of it!

P.S. Good luck at being the great big sister we know you can be, Jaime!